Once & Future 1: A Metahuman In King Uther's Court
by shadowglove
Summary: When Chloe met and befriended Merlin, the only other Immortal she knows, she never expected it would mean her going back in time to save Igraine's life on the night she died, pretending to be a goddess, 'blessing' newborn Arthur, and telling off Uther.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville/Merlin**

Written for my Paranormal25 150 Prompt Table. Prompt of the day # 22: Near-Death Experience.

Couldn't think of anything else to write for this prompt so decided to go with this.

Not written to be taken seriously.

* * *

When Chloe had met Merlin, she hadn't believed he was _that_ Merlin until he'd shown her his magic. Afterwards she'd decided to take him for his word and had soaked in the stories of Camelot and Prince Prat---errr---_Arthur_, and of Uther the demonically tyrannical king.

Well, not exactly _demon_, but, uhm, _yeah_.

It was amazing to know another Immortal like herself, and the thought of Immortality was less lonely now that she knew she wouldn't be spending it alone.

It wasn't that any of her friends or family had died and she was alone in the big bad world, no. They were all still alive and still young, but Chloe knew that the day would soon come when Lois got her first wrinkle, or Clark his first gray hair, and Chloe wouldn't look older than 21---the age in which her power had seemed to decide she was fully matured and had stopped her aging process.

She'd gotten very close to Merlin, admittedly enough attached herself to him in a way to try and distance herself from Lois and the others so that when she lost them it wouldn't hurt.

Lois hadn't had it, of course, forcing Chloe to tell her what the deal was, and then slap her up the back of her head and hug her.

Both girls had had a good cry about it and then everything was fine, Merlin entering their weird little group and becoming an integral member of their odd little family.

Chloe admitted that she was probably a little infatuated with the ageless sorcerer…but only admitted this to herself.

He did anything for her, and she'd do anything for _him_, so when he'd asked her to do this for him, Chloe hadn't been able to refuse.

Well, actually, she _had_ refused, trying to remind Merlin of every single movie they'd ever seen together about the dangers in changing the past, but Merlin was adamant that this was a change that could only be for the better.

In the end, Chloe had been unable to refuse him, and _that_ was why she was now stalking down the halls in her get heels, clippety clapping against the stone beneath her.

She'd lost her appeal for castles thanks to the Luthors, but her respect for the knights and their pointy weapons had never wavered despite the fact that if all the many modern deaths couldn't keep her dead she doubted _swords_ could.

The blonde could only be thankful of the cloaking spell Merlin had placed on her before sending her through time and space…_alone_…to this time in history that would forever change and impact so many lives.

Gulping, Chloe could hear the screams as she neared the room at the end of the hall, light flickering under the door.

She hesitated at the door.

Did she _really_ want to do this?

Suddenly the woman's screams quieted, and a baby's took her place.

Time was running out.

With resolve, Chloe barged into the room, coming upon a young king, a sorceress of the Old Religion, and a woman bleeding away on the bed, a child in a nursemaid's hand.

"DO something Nimueh!" King Uther snapped, desperate as he went to his wife. "Igraine? My love?"

His wife lay motionless on the bed.

"I---I didn't know." Nimueh whispered, stricken and horrified from where she stood next to him. "I knew that the Old Magic would demand a price for a life…but I never thought…I never would have _imagined_…that it would have been _Igraine'_s life!"

"DO SOMETHING!" Uther roared, turning on her, furious. "She is your FRIEND! DO SOMETHING!"

"I _can't_!" Nimueh cried back. "I _warned_ you that there would be a price! I _told_ you!"

"Save her with your magic! Save her! Or I will _kill_ you!" Uther snapped.

Nimueh looked at him in horror. "_Uther_. No one can----."

"Okay, okay, out of the way people." Chloe, who had been overlooked in the chaos, pushed passed the frightened priestess and the distraught King.

"Who are _you_?" Uther hissed. "How did you get here? How _dare_ you shove the royal king?!?"

"Oh _shove_ it, Uther." She snapped. "I'm here to save your Queen from the death _you_ and your demanding desires would give her. So just _shut the fuck up_ and let me do my work."

She didn't know what shut him up, her promise to save the queen or her words.

She doubted that Uther was used to be talked down to like that.

The king stepped aside. "You can help her?" His voice was full of hope.

"No she can't." Nimueh shook her head. "The Old Magics---."

"Hush." Chloe waved Nimueh away before beginning to rub her hands together, warming them up, jump-starting her power as she took in deep breaths. Her body heated up, her hands beginning to glow as her power began to get stronger and stronger with every breath, her hands glowing brighter and brighter.

"What sort of magic is this?" Uther whispered to Nimueh.

"Not like any I have ever seen, Sire." Nimueh whispered back.

"Shut _up_ people." Chloe snapped. "I'm _trying_ to concentrate."

There was silence.

Even the _baby_ didn't make a sound.

"Hey Queen Igraine." Chloe spoke to the dying queen before her. "Just wanted to say, I always wanted to meet you. I always thought you were kinda cool despite how little screen time the movies always gave you."

Uther and Nimueh shared curious looks behind her back.

"And, well, this might hurt a _little_." And then Chloe brought her hands down on the Queen's chest, a jolt of glowing power entering Igraine like electricity, causing the queen to twitch. Chloe repeated this twice more, the glowing power entering Igraine fully and making her whole body light up like a roman candle, before suddenly the Queen sat up in bed, eyes flying open, breathing in a steady breath of air.

"_Igraine_?" Uther's voice broke as he hurried towards her.

Chloe stumbled away, and would have collapsed if Nimueh hadn't caught her. "Uh, thanks."

The High Priestess of the Old Religion stared down at her in awe. "No one but a _god_ can control life like that." She then let go of Chloe once she was steady on her feet, and went down on her knees on the cold floor, head bent. "Please forgive me, Eternity, for being as pretentious to think to control the power to _create_ _life_ when that power only belong to the gods."

Chloe just looked down at her in shock.

This…

She _really_ didn't think…

_Did_ she?

"I was dead." Igraine was telling Uther sleepily. "I saw a light---and my _parents._ They spoke of all the great things our son was to do." She then remembered her son and smiled, motioning for the maid to give him to her, the queen smiling into his face. "What a handsome boy you are, Arthur my son."

Chloe ignored Nimueh and just smiled as she watched mother with child.

Igraine yawned and passed Uther the child, before lying back down and falling into a peaceful sleep.

By that time Chloe had walked out of the room, looking around her, waiting for Merlin to magic her out of there.

_Merlin!_ She hissed mentally. _Time to skedaddle!_

Nothing.

She stomped to a window. _Beam me up Scotty!_

Nada.

She was mentally ranting and raving at the sorcerer to get her the _hell_ out of Medievalsville when Uther, proudly carrying his son, and Nimueh found her.

Nimueh bowed her head once more. "I have informed the king of who you are, Eternity, and he wishes to thank you for saving the life of the queen."

Chloe turned on Nimueh, about to clear this matter once and for all.

"Thank you, Eternity." King Uther bowed his head slightly. "Today is a day of rejoicing, and not of mourning, thanks to you."

"It's nothing, really." Chloe felt uncomfortable with all this praise. All she really wanted was to go _home_. "And anyway, I _had_ to come here. Otherwise _you_ would have royally fucked things up, Uther."

Uther blinked as she shook her finger accusingly in his hand.

"If I hadn't had to leave my _home_ and come _here_ your queen would have died and you would have become one ungrateful _bastard_." Chloe told him straight and simple. "You'd have blamed magic when it was your own damned fault, and you would have banned it, and would have started something called the Great Purge…though the only Great thing about it was its great _stupidity_."

Nimueh's eyes widened as she looked at the king in horror.

King Uther just seemed unable to do anything but _blink_ at Chloe.

She continued on. "You would be persecuting anyone with a hint of magic in them, and good people would have died because of your cold heartedness." She paused, decided to use this 'Eternity' thing to her advantage. "And then I would have had to kick your ass. Which I could. Because I'm a god…ess."

Nimueh bowed her head again. "I wish to ask forgiveness again…"

"Ahuh." Chloe waved off the rest of that. "You're forgiven…anyone makes mistakes, right? Just don't repeat it."

"Yes Eternity." Nimueh nodded.

Now that she thought about it, Chloe decided this whole situation was ridiculous and somewhat hilarious.

She would think back about this and laugh.

Of that she was certain.

"Thank you." Uther finally spoke, obviously deciding to take the words of a 'goddess' to heart.

"You're welcome." Chloe replied. _Merlin. Beam me the hell OUTTA HERE!_

The asshole wasn't.

She was _seriously_ reconsidering that infatuation.

If he had gotten her stuck in the middle ages she refused to ever speak to him again!

_Ever_!

Arthur began to make a fuss in his father's arms, Uther smiling down tenderly at his boy.

Chloe went up to the king and smiled down at the baby, finally _really_ looking down at the face of Arthur Pendragon, the hero in every one of Merlin's stories, the man she kinda suspected Merlin might have loved once upon a time.

Her smile went tender as she stroked a finger down his cheek. "You're a handsome thing, aren't you?"

The baby made a noise as if this should be obvious, before grabbing her finger and beginning to suck on it.

Chloe giggled, enchanted with the baby.

"Would you---bless him?" Uther asked. "Make sure he is a healthy, wise, and fair king?"

"What?" Chloe looked up at Uther, wide-eyed. "You mean like in Sleeping Beauty?"

Both Uther and Nimueh looked down at her curiously.

_Right._ Chloe cleared her throat and looked down at the baby. "Uhm. A blessing. Sure. I can do this." Taking in a deep breath, Chloe suddenly smiled, knowing what to do. She snapped the fingers of her free hand, and watched as power glowed through her and was fed into the child sucking her finger.

Arthur glowed as he consumed her healing power, becoming stronger, more enduring, and able to heal faster.

Chloe beamed.

From the stories Merlin had told her about his and Arthur's many misadventures, the tyke was going to need it.

"Arthur Pendragon, I grant you health, greater endurance than normal humans, and the ability to heal faster." She wondered if that was enough, but since Nimueh and Uther were still watching her she decided she needed to talk more, make this sound more regal-like. "May you use it only for the good of your people, and may you be a strong king whose name is never to be forgotten, greatly loved by his people and a stalwart example for your royal descendants to follow."

She paused. "Oh." She turned to Uther. "Tell him _never_ to marry Gwen, okay? She's a sweetheart but is really in love with Lancelot, and that's going to end up badly. Okay?"

Uther nodded, obviously not knowing what Chloe was talking about but taking it to heart.

"And you---its nice to have a firm hand with your son, but make sure he knows you love him too." Chloe decided to push it since Uther seemed amendable to her demands. "A prince needs his king to teach him to be a king, yes, but a boy needs his father even more."

Uther nodded once more.

Chloe smiled brightly at him.

He wasn't _nearly_ as dislikable as Merlin had painted him out to be.

Then again, Merlin had met him after he'd become embittered, _years_ after the loss had made him into the monster he'd become.

"Can't you tarry with us longer, Divinity?" Nimueh asked. "There are many questions I have about the celestial mysteries and the roots of the Old Magics that I would like to address with you."

Shit.

Meet fan.

_Merlin get me the HELL OUT OF HERE NOW!_

Thankfully, Merlin finally decided to do so.

And Chloe couldn't have been more relieved.

When she reappeared back in her home, she kicked the sorcerer in the shin for making her stay there longer than necessary, and left his house (and Merlin jumping up and down, wincing in pain) with a secretive smile on her face, deciding to go to the closest bookstore and to pick up a book to see just how _much_ history had changed thanks to her little trip to the past.

Who said history was dead?


End file.
